Education—Robinson Crusoe—Aspirations for a naval career—His father's wish—John Flinders' advice—Study of navigation—Introduction to Pasley—Lieutenant's servant—Midshipman on the Bellerophon—Bligh and the Bounty mutiny

The predecessors of Flinders—How Australia grew on the map—Mediaeval controversies on antipodes—Period of vague speculation—Sixteenth century maps—The Dutch voyagers—The Batavia on the Abrolhos Reef—The Duyfhen in the Gulf—Torres—The three periods of Australian maritime discovery—Geographers and their views of Australia—The theory of the dividing strait—Cook and Furneaux—The untraced southern coast